of the man after God's own heart is, "I was glad when it was said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord." I have "loved the habitation of thy house, the place where thine honour dwelleth." "One day in thy courts is better than a thousand." And why was this, but because they had "given their hearts to God." They were, like Zecharias, and Elizabeth, "walking in all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord blameless." The service of a man in this state of mind, is a hearty, diligent, constant service, his worship is that

worship in spirit and in truth" which God, who is a spirit, seeks for and accepts. This is not making religion a task, or the ordinances of it a burdensome ceremony-no, it makes it a sort of heaven below. Oh! could we but feel this, we should then fully understand what our Lord meant when he said, "the sabbath was made for man," -for his benefit, his comfort, his delight, Then should we enter into the feelings of the Psalmist when he said, " my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, in a dry and thirsty land where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

Now then, brethren, can we, in taking this view, both of what God has been to us as a Father, and what he is in himself; and also of what he requires of us can we say that his requirements are unreasonable or unkind? can we say that here is anything 1 Psalm lxiii. 1, 2.

like a powerful superior exacting the extremity of right from an inferior? can we even think that God would have appeared more gracious, more kind, or more compassionate, had he said nothing of our giving our hearts to him; or of our being holy and like himself? Do we not see, do not our consciences testify, that it is the very thing we want to make us happy, and that therefore it was love and goodness which wrote it, as the first and great commandment of the law, that we should love God with all our hearts? But this may appear yet more fully when we consider,

III. THE EFFECT WHICH WILL FOLLOW FROM COMPLYING WITH THE CALL of my text.

This is not indeed stated in the words before us; but it is suggested to us by what follows, when Solomon goes on to show the misery and ruin, which uniformly flow from connections with bad women, and from habits of excess, which he adds as a reason why his son should give him his heart. Without entering into these particulars, we may make the reasoning general, and put it into the form of an appeal to the conscience of every one.

Look back, my friends, on the time past of your life. What is it that has been the most fruitful source of trouble to you in the years that are gone by? what is it that makes the recollection of the past most painful to you? why do you sometimes

say, I wish I had my time to come over again? Is it not, because there are some things you have done, which have destroyed your peace; some duties neglected, some transgression committed which you cannot forget, and which you can never remember without distress and anguish? And if you could live your time over again, you think you would avoid these; but why do you think so? Could you trust yourself? Experience you say has made you wise;-it perhaps has, on the one point which affects you most, but it has not done it with regard to all sin. You commit transgression daily, so that if you shunned that evil, the consequences of which inspire your soul with dread, you would fall

into others.

Now look back once more, and ask whether a surrender of your heart to God, would not have secured you. Had the fear and the love of God reigned within, instead of being harrassed with sorrow and regret, you would now be rejoicing in the testimony of your conscience; instead of being filled with forebodings for the future, you would have had a cheerful hope of blessedness in reserve for you.

Thank God, there is a remedy,—a sovereign remedy for the past, The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin; the Father is willing to meet the returning prodigal and to speak peace to his troubled breast, even "that peace of God which passeth all understanding."

And in gracious love, to keep you from falling into the same evils and the same distresses in

future, he says, "my son, give me thy heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways." Close at once, my brethren, close at once with the invitation, "give God your heart," so shall you "remove sorrow from your heart, and evil from your flesh;" so shall so shall you be held up and be safe; so shall you walk in ways of pleasantness, and paths of peace; so shall your conscience be at ease; you shall enjoy present happiness, and be cheered with the assured hope of eternal glory; for you shall be kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation."

SERMON XV.

MATTHEW xvi. 24, 25.

THEN SAID JESUS UNTO HIS DISCIPLES, IF ANY MAN WILL COME AFTER ME, LET HIM DENY HIMSELF, AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS, AND FOLLOW ME. FOR WHOSOEVER WILL SAVE HIS LIFE SHALL LOSE IT: AND WHOSOEVER WILL LOSE HIS LIFE FOR MY SAKE, SHALL FIND IT.

WHEN We read of the sufferings and persecutions, endured by many of the most holy and eminent of the servants of God in former ages, we are ready to suppose, that some extraordinary change must have taken place in the character and disposition of the world, since we neither hear, nor read of, nor do we fear any thing of the kind, in the present day. And undoubtedly it ought to be one subject of our daily praise and thanksgiving, that we can worship God in the way our consciences approve, and profess our religion as we please, without being molested by any one; the good laws of our country affording us full protection. But if we suppose that the world has undergone such a change, as to render passages like the text quite unimportant to us, we shall greatly err. Of